Hosea 10:3

3 Surely now they will say, “We have no king, for we do not revere the LORD. What can a king do for us?”

Hosea 10:3 Meaning and Commentary

Hosea 10:3

For now they shall say, we have no king
This they would say, either when they had one; but by their conduct and behaviour said they had none; because they had no regard unto him, no affection for him, and reverence of him; but everyone did what was right in his own eyes: or during the interregnum, between the murder of Pekah, which was in the twentieth year of Jotham, and the settlement of Hoshea, which was in the twelfth of Ahaz; see ( 2 Kings 15:30 ) ( 17:1 ) ; or when the land of Israel was invaded, and their king was shut up in prison, and Samaria besieged, so that it was as if they had no king; they had none to protect and defend them, to sally out at the head of them against the enemy, and fight their battles for them; or rather when the city was taken, the altars broke down, their images spoiled, and they and their king carried captive: because we feared not the Lord:
did not serve and worship him, but idols; and this sin, casting off the fear of the Lord, was the source and cause of all their troubles and sorrows; of the invasion of their land; of the besieging and taking their city, and having no king to rule over them, and protect them: what then should a king do to us?
if they had one, he could be of no service to them; for since they had offended God, the King of kings, and made him their enemy, what could an earthly king, a weak mortal man, do for them, or against him? it was now all over with them, and they could have no expectation of help and deliverance.

Hosea 10:3 In-Context

1 Israel was a luxuriant vine, yielding fruit for himself. The more his fruit increased, the more he increased the altars. The better his land produced, the better he made the sacred pillars.

2 Their hearts are devious; now they must bear their guilt. The LORD will break down their altars and demolish their sacred pillars.

3 Surely now they will say, “We have no king, for we do not revere the LORD. What can a king do for us?”

4 They speak mere words; with false oaths they make covenants. So judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a field.

5 The people of Samaria will fear for the calf of Beth-aven. Indeed, its people will mourn over it with its idolatrous priests— those who rejoiced in its glory— for it has been taken from them into exile.